Books and other resources on investing

[cowbiscuits74]

Calling all self-educated investors....

DH and I have invested in Unit Trusts and OEICs for many years with pretty good returns but we think we could do more to enhance our portfolio both in terms of diversification and growth.

We are both in our 40s so many years of working ahead of us still all being well and we want to grow our retirement pot as much as possible plus invest for our children so we recognize two different strategies are needed.

We will also later this year receive a windfall and wish to invest it wisely for the long term.

So further education in personal investing is needed. We are both accountants and work in financial services so should not be a complete standing start for us hopefully. We both keep up to date with current affairs, economies (admittedly mostly the UKs), and the markets and read digests from a few brokers and other websites - with a pinch of salt firmly in hand.

I have just read Andrew Craig's 'Own the World'. What other books or resources would you recommend for us?

thank you

[Ughh]

Own The World is good. Have you implemented any of the ideas in it I.e spread of assets? Are you looking for info on direct equities?

[LexLoofah]

Ughh, I thought own the world was good as far as explaining very well about inflation, compounding, market forces etc and made a compelling argument about taking charge of ones Investments and not putting it all with fee taking managers and glad it was directed at UK investors for a change. However he did over push buying gold somewhat and some of the cases and authors he recommends did not stand up to scrutiny. I have been on his website and seems he has not been active in almost a year so not sure what he is up to these days. Nevertheless a good read and I highlighted lots of bits to go back over again.

Anyway I have an account at Morningstar where I have set up a portfolio to save my ideas and do research. We have an brokerage account where we have access to lots of funds, the main equity markets and spread betting if we ever get into that which is much much further down then line if at all.

We will be going into some unit trust, ETFs and investment trusts next week as redeemed out of our old ones but not ready to push the button yet on equities, just watching and waiting for now but yes would like to have equities as part of our portfolio for the long term, buy and hold build a position type approach. We have a basic asset allocation model of % in funds, equities and other and using the funds/trusts to diversify into markets and sectors but still need to refine in terms of themes. Also will not be going all in on one day, going to drip over 6 months and then add monthly.

I had a quick look on Amazon at one yesteray called one up on Wall Street, have you read that one? I am not looking to get rich quick or read about someone's sure fire secret system, just want solid techniques that I can apply and learn what i need to without being overwhelmed. I do not think technical analysis is for me, probably more fundamental. Have at least an hour a day to spend reading and researching, not sure if that is enough.

Thoughts?

[Ughh]

Agree with points re overselling Gold (I've got much less than the 30% he recommends but top up inflation hedging with Index Linked Gilt fund). Really the key points are that fees erode many gains over a period of time and adviser fees in my opinion aren't worth paying if you can spend time doing it yourself. Read Gone Fishin' Portfolio on the back of Own The World but it was awful. Haven't actually read any others he recommended though.

If you're after fundamental analysis reading, although it's old you can't beat The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. But it really only covers equity/bond analysis and if your investing directly in those you need to have sizeable sums to make dealing charges reasonable. Its an interesting read - but Money Week makes a valid argument for Warren Buffet's value style investing being somewhat outdated.

Personally I have all trackers funds as I can get all the exposure I need for a very cheap fee, drip feeding money each month and just topping up geographical areas I think look good for growth. Readingwise, Money Week is fab, but Investors Chronicle good too.

[LexLoofah]

uggh thanks, was contemplating money week or another similar so will give that a go. I agree on keeping fees low if you can educate yourself and keep an eye on things you can do a good job yourself but until now never had the time but now the kids are older I can and want to get more into it. Really liking the idea of trackers so long as they react quick enough when there is change - I think their historoic results suggesy so, wasn't it a guru at Vanguard who suggested that is the best strategy? So many conflicting opinions in the investment world. I am skeptical about analysts and journalists top picks etc I would only act if they confirmed what I was already thinking rather than being led by them if you see what I mean

[Ughh]

Money week have a 4 week free trial so it's worth seeing if you like it first.

I. Know what you mean about the Andrew Craig site - but then he's advocating investments which you just invest and don't touch so I'm not surprised! However there is definitely a gapin the market for what he wrote. Most people will look to drip feed and I think there's always a case for continually evaluating asset allocation and adding to areas which look likely to have growth. Especially with companies like Hargreaves having a minimum regular investment of £25 pcm, regular saving is easier than it's ever been.

[LexLoofah]

Ughh thanks have subscribed to IC

Agree the book filled the gap but one of the premises is that he would be keeping his site up to date with latest thoughts. I see he is writing the 2nd edition so suspect he will be more active after that, would be interested to read what he thinks about gold now given how much it has fallen since he wrote the book. There is still case that it should be part of ones portfolio but is not a buy a hold really is it? I mean that is more of going in and out at the right times to make a profit unless you just want it to balance out correlation wise. Anyway that is much further down the road for us.

Feel like I am much more well informed now and have some good sources of info and data being delivered to my inbox, although danger is too much data right? Must be disciplined. I accept I will never be a pro and know all there is to know but so long as I know what I need to know for our circumstances I think we do a reasonably good job of looking after and growing our pot and hoping I will actually enjoy it too.